Meghalaya: Naval divers spot skeletons during search for trapped miners

Shillong: Naval divers on Thursday said that they have spotted skeletons inside the mines of Meghalaya through their remotely operated vehicles. The forensics experts will to reach the spot by evening and suggest the future course of action.

According to the sources of news agency ANI, the water inside the mines has high sulphur content which can result in quick decomposition of the bodies. 

It has nearly been a month now that 15 miners were trapped inside the illegal rat-hole coal mine in East Jaintia Hills district of Meghalaya.

Earlier in the day, the Navy managed to spot a body from the illegal coal mine from a depth of more than 200 feet, adding that the search operations for the rest of the miners are on.

The operation to rescue the trapped miners was first launched by the NDRF team, along with help from SDRF and civil administration but the rescue efforts were stalled after a few days because of the unavailability of resources.

On December 13, nearly 20 miners entered the quarry owned by Krip Chullet. After reaching the bottom of the pit, they entered horizontal manholes, often termed as 'rat-holes', as each just about fits one person. 

The miners got trapped in the illegal pit after water from nearby Lytein River gushed into the mine. Five persons were able to climb out of the flooded mine, leaving the others behind.